A Visit to Dachau

It was a sombre and appropriately overcast day as we headed out from Munich to the WW II concentration camp at Dachau.  Upon arrival at the camp, I accidentally bypassed the car park and we found ourselves driving along the outer walls of the camp.  The high walls, topped with barbed wire were intimidating and terrifying to see.

What we learned

Opened in 1933 shortly after Hitler became Chancellor of Germany, Dachau was the first official concentration camp to be built, and would become the model for future camps throughout WW II.  It was opened by Heinrich Himmler, who was the Chief of Police for Munich at the time.  Himmler knew that there was an abandoned munitions factory from WW I close to Munich in Dachau, and that the site had all of the necessities – water, electricity, accessibility by railway.  It was originally intended to be used for political prisoners, but as the war proceeded, the camp’s use changed to include prisoners of war, Jews, foreigners, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and anyone else who was directly or indirectly against the war or Hitler.  Over the course of the war over 200,000 prisoners were held at Dachau, with over 32,000 documented deaths and countless others which were not documented.  The camp was originally designed to hold up to 6,000 prisoners, but at the end of the war it held over 32,000.

No one was immune from becoming a prisoner.  This picture is of the first prisoners to be brought to Dachau, and if you notice their clothing they were “good Bavarian men”.

I also learned that not all of the camps were the same.  I had heard of Auschwitz and of the use of gas chambers there, and assumed that all of the concentration camps worked in this way.  I learned that there were two different kinds of camps.  The concentration camps were for internment, hard labour, and later in the war the prisoners were used as slave labour for the war effort.  Camps like Auschwitz were called extermination camps, and it was at these specialized camps that the infamous gas chambers were broadly used.  Gas chambers were installed at Dachau and could hold up to 150 prisoners at a time.  However, survivors have testified that the SS would use the chambers on occasion for individuals or small groups, but the chambers were never used on a large scale.

There were over 30 main concentration camps which were spread across Germany and into Poland; there were 6 extermination camps, all of which were east of Germany.  Around each camp were sub-camps, places were the prisoners were taken to complete different work.  From the photos below, you can see the main camp and the extremely large number of sub-camps.

Note the triangle with the “V” near Auschwitz. This indicates an extermination camp.

Note all the sub-camps around Dachau.

Prisoners would enter the camp through the main gate, complete with watchtower and machine guns.

Main entrance gate to Dachau

Prisoners were greeted with this sign – Work will make you free.

Once in the camp, the prisoners were greeted with this sight.

The Roll Call grounds – at the beginning and end of each day each of the 6000 prisoners would line up and be counted.

Deep ditches, electrified fences surround the camp.

Electrified barbed wire to keep prisoners in.

Guard towers, electrified barbed wire fences, and ditches surrounded the camp. In the foreground, the remains of former barracks.

The prisoners were treated harshly, with little concern for their health or well being.  Our guide told us that the prisoners were fed approximately 1200 calories per day, and worked long days of hard labour conditions.  Through our tour, we learned of some of the other horrors to occur at Dachau….death, medical experiments, and torture.

It was not possible to bury the dead, so the bodies were cremated.  Eventually, the numbers of dead prisoners exceeded the capabilities of the crematorium, so a ‘new’ building was constructed.  Prisoners were used to build the facility, but once they left the camp to work on construction, they were never seen again.

By the end of the war, the supply of coal in Germany had dried up so the crematoriums could not be used.  The bodies simply piled up outside the crematorium.  This memorial sculpture depicts the bodies piling up…

The camp was finally liberated on April 28, 1945.  Our guide told us that liberation was not always good for the prisoners.  For example, some Soviet prisoners who made it back home were imprisoned as ‘traitors’ because they had assisted the Germans in their war effort, even though they were forced to do so as slaves.

Following the war, SS officers and soldiers were captured and held at Dachau as they awaited trial.  I was also surprised to learn that the barracks were renovated in 1948 and remained in use until 1964 as a refugee camp for ethnic Germans expelled from Czechoslovakia.

I think that this memorial really is a tribute to how Germany is dealing with its past and looking forward to its future.  Terrible things were done at Dachau and at all of the camps, and it would have been far easier to simply tear them all down, plow them under the ground and try to literally bury the past.  As our guide said, “…by keeping Dachau open and educating the public, we are hoping that this will never happen again”.

Several groups have set up permanent chapels and places of prayer on the grounds.

Russian Orthodox Chapel built in 1995

Catholic Mortal Agony of Christ Chapel built in 1960

Protestant Church of Reconciliation built in 1967

Jewish Memorial built in 1967

Carmelite Convent established in 1964

The Carmelite convent is located just outside the north wall of the camp where nuns offer daily prayers in memory of those who were imprisoned and died at the camp.

While this was a ‘heavy’ day for all of us, it was the final piece in our WW II puzzle.  We have gained some insight into the events leading up to WW II through our visits to Juno Beach and Berlin.  While we still cannot fathom how any nation could allow these horrors to occur, we appreciate how Germany continues to deal with its past by investing in memorials like this to keep the memory present and alive for future generations.

I thought that the design of the Dachau visitor’s centre was unique…

External view of the Dachau Visitor Centre

There are no prison bars here anymore

I asked why the poles around the outside of the visitor’s centre were not straight, and was told that the bent bars represent the fact that there is no prison here anymore…a person can fit through the wider gaps in the bent bars.

Finally, I thought the following memorial wall at the camp really summed up the value of this memorial site.  While we recognize the efforts of our soldiers in fighting for justice and what is right, it is also important not to forget those who were victims of the atrocities.